We are redoing our main bathroom and I'm in the middle of tile-shopping for the bathtub/shower wall and the bathroom floor. I like the look and feel of the polished tile but I am getting conflicting comments from various professionals about the care and cleaning so I'd like to know what is the general opinion out there. Our main goal is to use a tile as carefree as possible. Is polished tile on a shower wall more maintenance that a mat tile, regarding water stains etc.? Any info, comments or experiences would be so appreciated! Thanks! :)
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Thank you both for your input!:)
Our contractor - and tile man - both feel that a polished tile is much easier to clean and won't show the water spots as much.
I've done a test on the two samples I have here, 12" x 12" each, one tile mat which I plan on using for the floor but would love to continue up the shower wall as well - and the other polished, for the shower wall only. I have sprinkled them both with soapy water and have left them to dry at room temperature. Once dry, the mat one definitely showed not only the water spots but also the "tracks" left by the water drops as those traveled on the tile. The polished tile however showed little to no water spots at all so I guess I have my answer. I'm a little disappointed as I would have much prefered a uniform look with the same tile on floor and wall - but the polished tile matches well with the mat one so it will be okay.
Again, thanks a bunch!
i am responsible for cleaning my bathroom. our shower wall tiles are shiny.
I haven't cleaned them much in the 9 nears we've been living there. all i have to do to clean the tiles is spray it with a tile spray, leave it on for a bit and then rinse it off. if i buy a new house, i will definitely put in a glass shower, which will only leave me with two sides with tiles. I will get shiny tiles again cause its not the tiles that you have to worry about, its the grout. regardless of the tiles, you still have grout. make sure you clean the grout regularly. take it from me cause my grout is brown now. i think shiny tiles show more water marks and stuff, but they are easier to clean.
Polished probably shows water marks and soap scum more than matte does. Whether or not that is a bad thing probably depends on how you feel about things like soap scum. If you want to avoid cleaning, then the hiding properties of the matte is good. If suddenly realizing that the soap scum is there even though you can't see it all that well grosses you out, then maybe shiny is better so you KNOW when it needs cleaning!